Effect of Phytosanitary Irradiation Treatment on the Storage Life of ‘Jiro’ Persimmons at 15 °C

John Golding,Baogang Wang,Penta Pristijono

doi:10.3390/horticulturae6040092

John Golding, Baogang Wang + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae6040092

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Abstract

Irradiation is becoming a more accepted phytosanitary market access treatment for some international horticultural trades. However, there is little information on the effects of phytosanitary irradiation treatment on persimmon fruit quality. ‘Jiro’ persimmon fruit were treated with an average of 769 Gray (Gy) at a commercial phytosanitary irradiation X-ray facility to examine the effect of this market access treatment on fruit quality during storage. After treatment, fruit were stored in air at 15 °C for up to three weeks. The results showed that, in general, there was no effect of irradiation treatment on fruit weight loss, calyx appearance, fruit firmness (objective and subjective), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), internal appearance, and ethylene production rate. There were some treatment differences in fruit respiration rates and some aspects of fruit appearance and colour, where irradiated fruit had higher respiration rates and were slightly darker with higher levels of skin blemish, although these measured differences were not commercially significant. This study showed the promise of using low dose irradiation as a phytosanitary treatment for ‘Jiro’ persimmons, but more work is required to test other persimmon cultivars and other storage and marketing environments.

Highlights

Persimmons (Diospyros kaki L. f.) are a popular fruit, with world production being at around8 million tonnes per year [1]
Cross-sections of the treated and untreated fruit that had been cut in half after three weeks of storage are presented in Figure 6 and illustrate the level of internal gelling of the fruit after storage. This experiment examined the effect of storage time and phytosanitary irradiation treatment on the quality of ‘Jiro’ persimmon fruit during storage at 15 ◦ C
There was no effect of irradiation treatment on fruit quality

Summary

Introduction

Persimmons (Diospyros kaki L. f.) are a popular fruit, with world production being at around8 million tonnes per year [1]. World trade in persimmon fruit is increasing, but persimmon fruit are perishable and are hosts to quarantine pests such as Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), which require a postharvest disinfestation treatment to ensure pest freedom if the fruit is to be traded into sensitive export markets. While established phytosanitary treatments such as methyl bromide fumigation and cold treatment have been used as end-point treatments to ensure pest freedom, each of these treatments have their limitations such as the use of postharvest chemical fumigants or long cold treatment times [2]. Irradiation is a technologically proven, viable, and scientifically sound disinfestation treatment [5]. Irradiation is increasingly becoming an approved and agreed treatment in world trade of food and horticultural products [2]. The trade of irradiated produce is based on the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM), ‘Phytosanitary Treatments

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